There Will Be Pie
by Isabel5
Summary: Chloe/Oliver - Chloe wants a perfect Christmas, Oliver wants to give it to her, but nothing ever goes as planned in the Queen household.


**November 22****nd****, Thanksgiving Day**

Chloe grabbed the dustpan from against the wall and deftly swept the small pile of broken glass into it before emptying it into the large trash can beside her. She stopped then and surveyed the area around her feet to make sure she hadn't missed anything. She smiled with satisfaction to see the gleaming hardwood floors completely glass free and willed herself not to look up, but it was too late. Lifting her head to inspect the rest of the Watchtower, she winced at what she saw.

The one computer monitor that wasn't completely smashed on the floor was dangling precariously by a single wire as the screen flickered. There was an image of a crackling fire blinking in and out of existence annoyingly. The couch had been completely flipped onto its back, the cushions scattered around the floor of the Watchtower, it was in bad shape but could be fixed. The coffee table however was nothing more than splinters and Chloe had written it off as a lost cause.

None of that would have been terribly overwhelming if it wasn't for the fact that every square inch of the place, except the small area Chloe had just swept, was covered in broken stained glass. She looked up at the large gapping hole in the side of her building and figured it was probably time to take Oliver up on his offer from the year before to simply put the stained glass guy on retainer. She was sure when the comment had been made after the fifth replacement window had gone in, he'd meant it in jest. But now, facing window replacement number six, it was starting to make a lot fiscal sense.

Chloe took a deep breath and grabbed for the broom again before taking her hand back at the last second. She really didn't have the energy to clean anymore tonight. It had been a long day and she was sure if she dangled an offer of pizza and milkshakes in his face the next morning, Bart would have the place spotless in five minutes. She let the dustpan fall to the ground and made her way to the make shift dining room that she'd set up the day before. Glass crunched under her heels and she winced with every step until she made it to the table. Reaching down, she picked up one of the overturned chairs and set it to rights, brushing the seat off before plopping down into it and blinking at the table in front of her.

The turkey stared back at her, taunting her. Its skin was the perfect golden brown, probably nice and crunchy. Chloe could grantee, due to two solid days of brining, the meat was tender and juicy and perfectly seasoned. Surrounding the bird were the traditional Thanksgiving table accompaniments; green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy (with and without gizzards), two types of stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce and fresh baked rolls.

All of it was cold now, not a single serving taken from a single dish, all of it was also covered in glass. Chloe had just brought the turkey out to the table, still slightly steaming, to the sounds of her friends oohing and ahhing and set it in front of Oliver to be carved when the window shattered into the room and masked men propelled down from the roof into the Watchtower, letting them know that they were under siege. The entire table had jumped up immediately, fighting off the would be invaders and launching a counter attack that obviously took their opponents by surprise if the rapid retreat they effected was anything to go by.

Within minutes Bart and Clark had been in pursuit and Oliver, AC and Victor were changed into their spare suits, ready to go out and meet their teammates in the field. That had left Chloe and Lois sitting in the Watchtower waiting and the worst part was they couldn't even eat anything. Lois had left almost an hour ago and for lack of anything better to do Chloe had grabbed a broom and started sweeping.

Chloe reached forward now, pulling a large piece of green tinted glass free from the breast of the turkey and dropped it to the floor before peeling off a piece of skin and popping it in her mouth. She closed her eyes and sighed, it was perfect, it would have been perfect anyway if they'd actually gotten to eat it.

"So are we calling it?" Oliver asked from the doorway, pushing his hood off his head and switching off the voice distorter in one tired movement. "Worst Thanksgiving ever?"

Despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to cry Chloe laughed and nodded as he made his way to the table. "Did you get them?" she asked.

"Yeah, the guys are cleaning up the loose ends as we speak. It's just like we thought, they were Tess' men," Oliver said. "She's still convinced there's something going on here."

"This place hasn't been used for anything more than storage since we moved to Star City three years ago." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"That's what I told her but she doesn't believe me," Oliver shrugged, picking up another chair and setting it next to Chloe's. He dropped a small kiss to her cheek before tearing off a piece of turkey skin for himself and popping it into his mouth. "Oh, that's good," he groaned, falling into the chair.

"We probably shouldn't eat any more of it," Chloe said, resting her cheek on her hand. "It's covered in glass."

"I'm starving," Oliver groaned, looking at the spread laid out before him, teasing him.

"Wait," Chloe smiled and stood up. She made her way into the kitchen area and opened the microwave pulling something out and carrying it to the table. "I hid this earlier, didn't want Bart to find it and devour it, which means…it's glass free," she smiled as she dug through drawers looking for utensils not covered in glass and debris.

"I'm warning you right now, I might eat the whole thing," Oliver told her. He smiled when she rounded the corner. The pie was in one hand, two forks in the other as her loosely curled hair fell softly into her face. She still had her apron on from earlier, various food stains proving that it wasn't just for show. Underneath, the vintage green dress she'd found earlier that month at a thrift store in Star City paired with gold kitten heels completed the look perfectly.

"What?" Chloe asked when she realized that Oliver was staring at her.

"Nothing," he smiled, taking the fork she offered him. "It's just…you look like a 50's housewife."

Chloe looked down at herself then back up at him and smirked, sitting back down in her chair and setting the pie on the table between them. "I feel like a 50's housewife," she admitted and he laughed.

"I know you wanted it to be perfect," Oliver reached out and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "And we tried, we really did."

"Hey, you guys did great," Chloe assured him. "I mean, it's not your fault that Tess' men chose today of all days to infiltrate the Watchtower," she shrugged. "They probably thought, what with the holiday the place would be empty."

"Still it was important to you," Oliver said and it had been. It wasn't their first Thanksgiving as a married couple but for some reason Chloe had been talking all week about how it had to be perfect. She'd been the one to coral everyone into coming, moving it from their place in Star City to the Watchtower to make it easier for Lois and Clark. She'd been the one to cook the entire meal, to set the table, to get it all ready, and it was destroyed in less than a second.

There was a determined look in her eyes as she shrugged off his concern. "Don't worry. There's always Christmas," she said sticking her fork in the middle of the pie and digging out a large bite. Oliver followed her example eagerly but Chloe stopped him before he lifted the fork to his mouth. "Now this is my first pie ever but I got the recipe from Martha so it should be ok," she was biting her lip nervously now and Oliver couldn't resist leaning forward and kissing the nerves away from her.

"I'm sure it's wonderful," he said before sticking the whole bite into his mouth in one go. He chewed for a second before stopping and looking over at Chloe. He offered her a small smile, his cheeks bulging with pie, as he began chewing again, more slowly this time.

"What?" Chloe asked, putting her own bite in her mouth only to spit it right back out into a napkin. "That is the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten," she said quickly, wiping the residue off her tongue with the corner of another napkin.

"Oh thank God," Oliver said spitting his own bite out. "I wasn't sure how I was going to actually swallow that," he grabbed the wine closest to him, yanking the cork out and drinking straight from the bottle. Chloe held out her hands and he happily passed it over as she too drank to try and rid her mouth of the awful taste. "Maybe with a little more practice?" He offered her and she smiled at him.

"Can we just go home?" she asked and he nodded, pulling her to her feet.

"I thought you'd never ask," Oliver said and his stomach rumbled.

"Maybe we'll stop for pizza on the way," she said indulgently and he laughed, sweeping her up into his arms and off her feet as he carried her to the door.

"I knew I married you for a reason," he declared.

"Well it obvious wasn't for my pie baking skills," she joked.

**December 23****rd****, Christmas Eve Eve**

The lava flowed down the side of the volcano agonizingly slowly. Despite the leisurely pace Clark knew that the girl would not be able to get out of the way in time. He flew down and grabbed her, making sure to check that he also had a firm grasp on the teddy bear she was clutching like a life line before setting her down next to the bawling woman he assumed was her mother.

He couldn't understand what the woman was saying but he figured it was along the lines of "Thank You". He simply nodded before turning back to the situation at hand. It was dangerous messing with nature, sometimes forest fires just had to burn and volcano's just had to erupt but if he let the lava flow continue uninterrupted it would likely destroy over half of the village. He stopped at the bottom of the volcano and took a deep breath, blowing as hard as he could, using his breath to guide the lava out toward the valley while cooling it at the same time.

He could hear the excited cheers of the villagers behind him and turned around satisfied that he'd saved the day when he heard someone shouting his name. The voice was muffled but familiar and he remembered that he'd been on the phone when he heard the broadcast about the volcano eruption. "Oh shit Oliver," Clark blanched and zoomed off back to stall in the bathroom of the Daily Planet where he'd left his clothes sitting on the back of the toilet. Lying on top of his carefully folded dress pants was his phone.

"Clark, Clark, are you listening to me?" Oliver hissed. "I swear to god Clark—"

"I'm here, I'm here," Clark said after quickly putting his clothes back on. "There was a…I'm here," he stepped out of the bathroom stall and bumped straight into Steve from the Sports section who was giving him a strange look. For appearances sake he walked over to the sink and washed his hands.

"There was a what?" Oliver asked cautiously.

"There was a volcano eruption," Clark said sheepishly. "In Italy."

"There's always a volcano eruption or a tsunami or some delusional megalomaniacal psycho trying to blow up the moon," Oliver said, "But you promised; no Superman work on Christmas!"

"I didn't promise." Clark said, in fact he'd been extremely careful not to promise because he knew he'd only end up having to break it.

"You said you'd _make every effort_," Oliver reminded him, his voice strained.

"Ok, yes, I did say that and I am going to make every effort but—"

"No, no, no butts, there are no butts this year," Oliver told him.

"It's not even Christmas Eve," Clark told him exasperated.

"_I_ know that," Oliver groaned. "Don't you think _I_ know that? The thing is Chloe's not going to care and you know it."

"Is she still—"

"Completely and utterly psycho?" Oliver asked. "Yes, yes she is."

"That's your wife you're talking about you know," Clark reminds him.

"Oh I know and I love her, I really do, but I have no idea where this sudden obsession with having the perfect Christmas came from," Oliver sighed. "She's driving me absolutely mad, she's been cooking for three days Clark, three days. The house smells like food but I can't eat any of it, I'm hungry all the time. This weekend we stripped all the guest rooms, the sheets, the curtains everything. She even had me drag all the rugs out back where I swear to God, she proceeded to beat them with a stick."

"Really?" Clark asked astonished.

"Yeah," Oliver paused. "Actually there was a surprising amount of dust in them, I think I need a new vacuum."

"Lois and I just got one of those Roomba things you know, you can just let it run all day. It constantly vacuums your house," Clark said.

"Hmmm, I might have to look into that," Oliver said then shook his head. "We've gotten pretty far off point here." 

"There was a point?" Clark asked.

"Yes the point is, whatever's gotten into Chloe, it's frightening, I mean seriously scary—"

"Wait are you telling me that you, the Green Arrow, are afraid of you own wife?" Clark asked amused.

"You haven't been here, you don't know. She sent me into the attic this morning to look for my parent's china and I've been hiding ever since. It's probably 20 degrees up here but I don't care," Oliver hissed looking around. "I need back up."

"I thought Carter was there," Clark said confused. He was sure that the older man had told him that he and Courtney were going to spend the week before Christmas in Star City.

"Oh he's here alright," Oliver grumpily thought of the other man who was likely, even now, somewhere in his house, doing whatever he could possibly do to show Oliver up, just like he'd been doing the whole week. "I need back up who's actually on my side," Oliver grumbled.

Every time Oliver had even thought of complaining about Chloe the past week Carter had smacked him in the back of the head and glared, offering him nothing more than a curt, _"She's your wife, do what she says" _before walking away.

"I swear to God Clark, if you're not here with Lois by 10 a.m. tomorrow morning I will find the biggest chunk of Kryptonite I can get my hands on and shove it so far up your ass that—"

"Who are you talking to?" Chloe asked from behind Oliver. He hid the phone behind his back and spun around so fast that he almost lost his balance and fell off the beam he was perched on. Chloe was standing at the top of the attic stairs, a large mixing bowl cradled in her arms as she furiously whisked whatever was in it.

"I was just…no one. I haven't found the china yet but I think it might be in one of those boxes over there." Oliver pointed randomly at a pile of boxes that he was actually pretty sure had his high school papers.

"Carter found the China two hours ago," Chloe shrugged him off. "Is that what you've been doing up here this whole time?" She asked again and Oliver nodded sheepishly. "Now quit fooling around there's work to do," Chloe called over her shoulder as she descended the steps. "Oh and tell Clark that if Lois doesn't bring the sweet potato casserole, an ass full of Kryptonite is going to be the least of his worries."

"Did you hear that?" Oliver asked Clark when Chloe was gone and he swore he could hear the other man swallow, hard.

"Yep, loud and clear," Clark assured him hanging up the phone.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked into the kitchen and Carter smirked at him as he carefully hand washed Oliver's mother's china while Chloe looked on a smile on her face. "I've got the silver all laid out in the dining room, you can get started polishing that."

"I can help," Courtney offered happily, tossing Carter the rag she'd been using to dry the china and bouncing up next to Oliver.

"Started?" Oliver asked confused as Chloe led him into the room. Every available surface was covered in silver. There were silver candlestick holders, silver platters, silver bowls, silver serving spoons, silver trays, silver cake stands, two silver tea sets, a silver coffee pot and two sets of silver flatware and serving ware. "What is this?" Oliver asked, mouth open wide.

"It's all the silver," Chloe said confused.

"In the world?" Oliver asked her astonished.

"Don't be smart," Chloe glared at him.

"We can't possibly use all of this," he argued and she sighed at him as if to say, _"Honestly Oliver". _

"Of course we aren't going to use all of it, but I haven't decided yet what I do want to use so I need you to just polish it all."

"All of it?" Oliver squeaked.

"You have something better to do?" Chloe asked him seriously. He checked his watch and frowned. The Alamo Bowl started twenty minutes ago and if he was honest and told her that all he wanted to do was grab a beer and watch SC State pounce Notre Dame she would probably murder him so instead he just shook his head and Courtney passed over a polishing rag.

Thirty minutes later he set his first finished piece to the side and surveyed the rest of the room with a barely suppressed moan. Courtney offered him a sympathetic glance but continued to polish her tray as she hummed along with the Christmas music that Chloe had managed to pump into every room of the house through the intercom system. "How can you possibly be that cheerful while polishing silverware?"

"Because it's Christmas," Courtney said simply. "I love Christmas," she explained further. "I never really had one, you know it was just me and my step dad and he was pretty much…well he wasn't ever really in the spirit. One year I saved up my allowance and I bought a tree," her smile faded a bit. "He threw it out to the curb, decorations and all."

"I'm sorry," Oliver mumbled feeling like an even bigger jerk.

"It's ok, cause this year, I've got you guys and a real family Christmas," Courtney said.

"Oliver," Chloe poked her head in. "What are you doing? You need to be at the airport in like twenty minutes," Chloe said as if it was his fault he was in there polishing silverware, as if she hadn't told him to do it.

"Airport?" he asked confused.

"Lucy and Uncle Sam's flight lands in less than an hour," she reminded him.

Oliver did groan that time. "But the General hates me," he pointed out. Chloe didn't seem one bit sympathetic to his cause. "We never have anything to talk about and the silence is awkward. The whole time he's looking at me he's thinking about how I dated his daughter then married his niece, I know he is."

"Oliver he has better uses of his time than to spend it hating you," Chloe rolled her eyes at him.

"Can't you send Carter?" Oliver asked brightening a bit, he'd gladly polish silver over trying to make small talk with the General. "They'd have loads to talk about, for instance how much they hate me."

"Carter is busy setting up the Christmas tree," Chloe brushed him off.

"Wait, another tree?" Oliver asked confused. They already had a large one in the living room, a smaller one in the dining room and a table top one in the kitchen.

"It's for the study," Chloe said.

"No one even goes into the study," Oliver protested. "I haven't used it in years."

"Maybe you would if it had a Christmas tree," Chloe countered. "And wear your sweater."

"No, Chloe, I'm putting my foot down. I'll put up twenty trees, I'll polish all the silver in the world and then make small talk with General Lane but I'm not wearing a Christmas sweater," Oliver shook his head. "I refuse."

"Carter's wearing his," Chloe said, slight pout on her face as Carter walked past the room hauling a medium size Christmas tree wearing a red sweater with frolicking reindeer across his chest. Carter looked down at his sweater and winked, offering Oliver a thumbs up. "So is Courtney, so stop being a baby," Chloe called after him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver hated airports. He hated the crowds, he hated the long lines and the security checkpoints and most of all he hated waiting and when it all came down to it that's all an airport was good for, waiting. You waited in line to get to the gate, you waited at the gate for your plane, when you finally boarded your plane you waited to take off. When you landed you waited to get off the plane and then you had to wait for your luggage and Oliver Queen hated waiting.

At the moment he was waiting for Lucy and the General. Their plane landed almost forty five minutes ago but still there was no sign of either of them. He contemplated calling Chloe to see if maybe he had the wrong time or the wrong gate but he didn't want to worry her, or worse, anger her. He still remembered yesterday when he'd gotten the wrong kind of green beans from the store, he hadn't even realized there were different kinds of green beans.

He caught sight of a slightly familiar head of hair and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Lucy!" The girl barely looked up from the phone in her hands just long enough to see what direction he was located in then put her head back down and kept on texting. When she got to him she just walked right past him and Oliver had no choice but to follow. "Where's the General?" Oliver looked around the crowded airport.

"Oh yeah, he's not coming," Lucy said.

"What do you mean he's not coming?" Oliver asked following her toward the exits.

"He's not coming," Lucy said more slowly this time actually looking up at Oliver. "Some work something or other, huge surprise huh, but he said I still had to come," she said this as if it was a major hardship for her. "He said to tell you Merry Christmas and to let you know that he's holding you personally responsible for me," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Like I need a babysitter," she looked back down at her phone and typed something quickly before slipping it in her pocket. "So are there any awesome clubs around here?" she asked hopefully.

"No Lucy, there will be no clubbing, this is a family vacation and you will be spending it with the family," Oliver said.

Lucy glared at him then her glare turned into smirk. "Nice sweater," she snorted.

Oliver looked down, he'd almost forgotten about the sweater. "Oh just wait," he flung his arm over her shoulder and steered her toward his car. "She's got one for you too," Lucy opened her mouth to protest as Oliver opened the door and slid her into the passenger seat. "Wait, where are your bags?" he looked around confused.

"I thought you had like, people for that," Lucy said exasperated and Oliver rolled his eyes, closed the door and headed back into the airport.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"For the last time no parties, no clubbing, no leaving the house," Oliver looked over his shoulder, which was really difficult considering he was carrying all seven of Lucy's bags. Seven bags for a three days stay.

"Translates to, no fun," Lucy said, her fingers flying over the keypad of her phone.

"And if you don't put that thing away no more phone," Oliver said.

Lucy rolled her eyes over dramatically as Oliver dropped all seven bags in a heap on the ground of the foyer, he could get them later. "So what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Oliver smiled brightly.

Ten minutes later Lucy was seated at the dining room table, across from Courtney as Oliver passed her the polishing cloth. "You can't be serious," Lucy gaped at him. "I didn't come here so you could have free labor you know."

"I know," he pushed her chair closer to the table. "You came here because for some reason Chloe wants a big happy family Christmas and we are going to do whatever we need to do to make sure that happens."

"But this is going to take all day," Lucy protested.

"Probably," Oliver nodded. "It's not like you have anything better to do."

"People think you're so cool but they have no idea. I'm so tweeting about this," Lucy threatened him.

"That's fine, so long as you tweet while you polish," Oliver said before walking into the kitchen.

"Where's the General?" Chloe asked when he sat down at the bar. "I saw Lucy come in but I didn't see Uncle Sam."

"He couldn't make it," Oliver winced as the whisk Chloe was using to stir the cream sauce clattered to the stove top. She turned around slowly to stare at him.

"What do you mean he couldn't make it?" Chloe asked.

"He had a work thing," Oliver said wishing he'd called the General himself to get a better answer before telling Chloe.

"A work thing," Chloe repeated not really understanding the sentence. "But it's Christmas."

"I…" Oliver was at a loss for what to say, he and the General didn't exactly get along but he didn't want to see this look on Chloe's face.

"So he's not coming at all?" Chloe asked. Oliver could see her mind working overtime as she processed this.

"As far as I know," Oliver told her.

"Ok," Chloe took a deep breath. "Okay, well that screws up the seating chart and I was counting on him to man the smoker."

"I can do the smoker," Oliver said.

"Oliver you've owned that thing for five years and it's still got the plastic covering on it. Have you ever even used it?" Chloe asked him and he reluctantly shook his head.

"I can man the smoker," Carter said from behind Oliver and he resisted the urge to jump in surprise, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

"Thank you Carter," Chloe let out a breath. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she turned back to her cream sauce and picked up the whisk.

"When have you ever manned a smoker in your life?" Oliver whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Back before there were electric ovens, all we had were smokers," Carter patted Oliver on the back condescendingly.

"You know it's all digital right," Oliver said with his own smirk before walking to the fridge and grabbing a beer.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked him.

"I don't have to pick your dad up until later tomorrow, Lucy and Courtney are polishing the silver and if I hurry I can catch the last few minutes of the game. The score was 12 to 14 when we got back from the airport, three minutes left and the…" He trailed off as Chloe glared at him. "But obviously I don't have time for football," he put the unopened beer back in the fridge and closed the door.

"I need you to run to the store," Chloe reached in her pocket and pulled out a list before passing it over to him.

He went down the list, his smile fading with each item; flour, sugar, butter, apples. He walked over to the trash can and sighed as he looked into it, seeing yet another perfectly good looking pie buried under paper towels and broken egg shells. "Another bad pie?" He asked her sort of hopelessly and he could see her take a deep breath.

"The crust was…mealy," Chloe said moving to the cutting board next to the stove and chopping the onion with more force than was necessary.

"Chloe, maybe it's time to pack it in on the pie. This is what the fifteenth or sixteenth pie and they don't seem be getting any better," Oliver said softly.

"Oliver it's Christmas. At Christmas you have pie," Chloe informed him. "And if this is going to be the best Christmas ever then there will be pie."

"Ok, but I know some great bakeries, fantastic bakeries actually," Oliver said. "I could go there right now get you fifteen pies."

"No, I'm going to make the pie," Chloe said. "I can do this," she turned back to the stove. "I have to do this."

"Chloe you don't—" Oliver tried to protest but Carter smacked him in the back of the head and shook his head, warning him to drop it.

"Go to the store," Carter growled at him and Oliver turned around and walked away, smiling when he realized he could catch the end of the game on the car ride to the store.

**December 24****th****, Christmas Eve**

Oliver could hear the phone ringing but he wasn't exactly sure if there was anything he could do about it. "Oliver," Chloe grunted elbowing him in the back. "Make it stop."

He somehow managed to extricate himself from the tangle of covers and shivered the moment his arm touched the air and the phone stopped ringing. "Thank you," Chloe whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his neck. He wanted to tell her that he didn't do anything but he was just too tired so he just murmured something unintelligible and let her take from it what she wanted.

Two trips to the store and eight hours had yielded nothing except three more bad pies. Oliver had finally managed to drag Chloe to bed around three with the promise that he would set the alarm for six so she could try again. Just as he felt himself drifting back off to sleep the phone started ringing again. "Ollie seriously," Chloe shoved at him hard and he fell out of the bed, crashing to the very cold floor with a thud.

He opened his eyes and glared at the bedside clock. It said 4:13. He grabbed for the phone and answered it. "Hello," he said gruffly.

"Thank God," Courtney said, her tone a bit shaky. "I was afraid you wouldn't answer. I didn't know who else to call. I woke you up didn't I, I knew I wake you up I didn't want to wake you up—"

"Courtney, why are you calling me at 4 in the morning?" Oliver asked, pulling himself to his feet and walking to the hall so he didn't disturb Chloe. "And why are you calling me from your room?"

"I'm not in my room," Courtney said. "I'm with Lucy."

"And where are you and Lucy at 4 in the morning?" Oliver asked, already dreading the answer.

"See we kind of got arrested," Courtney told him.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," Oliver sighed. He hung up the phone and ran a hand over his face, then he crept back in the room and pulled on whatever clothes he could find.

"What's going on?" Chloe mumbled from the bed, her eyes only half open.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," Oliver kissed her forehead. "Go back to bed."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Four hours later Oliver was signing the last of the paperwork. "Thank you so much, I really appreciate this," Oliver said.

"And we appreciate the two hundred raffle tickets you bought for Policeman's ball," the desk clerk said taking the papers. "And I'm sure the DA appreciates whatever it is you promised her to get a judge here at 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve."

"Yeah, I'm sure she does," Oliver grunted thinking about the favors he had to call in and all the favors he had to dole out.

"Merry Christmas," the clerk said as the doors opened and Lucy and Courtney were escorted out. "Oh and nice sweater."

Oliver looked down and rolled his eyes, noticing that he'd grabbed the reindeer sweater that morning in his haste. "Oliver I'm so sorry, thank you so much, I promise I won't ever do anything like that again ever," Courtney said barreling into him and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "I am not cut out for jail, that was horrible."

"You were in a holding cell for four hours Court," Oliver allowed himself a small smile, returning the hug. "You didn't do five to ten in the big house," he looked up at Lucy who was glaring as the desk clerk gave her back her purse and cell phone.

"What?" Lucy asked him.

"Don't you have something to say?" Oliver raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's about time?" Lucy said. "We called you like four hours ago."

"Really?" Oliver asked. "You're not even going to say Thank You?"

"Why?" Lucy asked him honestly. "I got eighty hours of community service."

"And you could have gotten three years in jail," Oliver said. "Do you have any idea what I had to do to get your charges reduced?" Lucy snorted again. "This is not a joke Lucy. They've got you on theft-"

"I stole a pack of gum and a bottle of water," Lucy protested. "Because the shop clerk was a perv who was more interested in staring at my chest then ringing me up."

"And when he called the cops they said you were uncooperative. You made a scene and you shoved one of the cops—"

"He tried to grab me!" Lucy said.

"Because you were drunk," Oliver snapped at her. "Falling over drunk. He was trying to keep you from falling face first in the gutter. I can't believe you were drinking."

"It's not that big a deal, I'll be 21 in like four months," Lucy said.

"And in four months you're more than welcome to drink yourself to oblivion if you want but not now, not on my watch," Oliver snapped at her. "Your father put me in charge of you, do you have any idea how pissed he's going to be about this."

"You're going to tell my dad?" Lucy gasped at him.

"I _have_ to tell your dad," Oliver said. "This is going on your record Lucy I can't stop that, no amount of favors can stop that."

"Can't you just pay them or something?" Lucy asked.

"I did pay them," Oliver said. "I paid them a lot between the favors and your fines of which you are going to pay back every cent."

"Oh God, it's not like you can't afford it," Lucy said.

"And then there were my fines," Oliver said. "You went to _my_ clubs Lucy. You went to my clubs and used my name to get them to serve you, which means that I'm responsible for contributing to a minor. Do you have any idea what that means?" he asked her seriously. "That means that on Christmas Eve I have to fire six people. Six people lost their jobs today because of you. Does that bother you in the least?"

"You don't _have_ to fire them," Lucy said.

"Yes I do," Oliver said. "You don't get it do you. I don't want to fire them, you think I like this? I have to, it's the law, they served you, they lose their jobs. Either I fire them or I close down the club and then over a hundred people are out of work," Lucy didn't say anything. "Go get in the car," he said and Lucy turned around and walked outside without another word.

He turned to Courtney. "I didn't drink anything all night, I only had club soda so I wasn't driving drunk."

"No you were driving without a license," Oliver said. "In my car which the police assumed was stolen when you couldn't produce proper ID."

"But I was sober," Courtney insisted and Oliver cracked a smile. "You're going to tell Carter aren't you?"

"I have to," Oliver said and Courtney nodded. She understood that, she really did. "But I don't see why it can't wait until after the holidays."

"Thanks," Courtney said. "Seriously thanks for everything for bailing us out, for not telling Carter. You have gone above and beyond, I mean you don't even have to get me anything for Christmas now."

"Good, that means I can bring back that iPad," Oliver smirked.

"You got me an iPad?" Courtney squealed.

"Look, you're a smart kid, you had to know this whole thing was a bad idea."

"I don't know what happened," Courtney said. "One minute we were polishing silver and the next she was asking me about clubs and I mentioned that you owned a few and before I knew it I was sneaking out of the house and freezing my ass off in this ridiculous excuse for a dress."

"Come on, let's get home," Oliver said walking her to the car.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

They walked into the mud room, shaking the new fallen snow out of their hair and hanging up their jackets. "I'm going to bed, wake me up for dinner," Lucy said walking to the stairs.

"No," Oliver grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her back. "You're going to go upstairs, change your clothes and you're going to come right back down here and you will sit in the dining room and you will polish silver until I tell you otherwise."

"I polished it all yesterday," Lucy said.

"Polish it again," Oliver told her and she decided it was better not to argue.

"What's going on?" Chloe asked as they walked into the kitchen. "Where have you been?"

"You don't want to know," Oliver said.

Chloe looked over at Courtney and Lucy, took in their clothing and smeared make-up and shook her head. "No I probably don't."

"I'm going to go change," Lucy said hurrying for the stairs.

"And wear your sweater," Oliver called after her. "What are you doing up? I thought you were going to sleep in."

"Bart got here around seven and he was hungry," Chloe smiled and motioned behind her at the kitchen table where Bart was eating a full breakfast; sausage and eggs, pancakes and hash browns and there were even some cinnamon rolls thrown in there for good measure. He smiled and waved at Oliver, his mouth full of food.

Oliver sat down across from Bart and grabbed a piece of bacon, staring at it for a minute as if he forgot how to eat it. Chloe set a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and he looked up, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her in between his legs, resting his fore head on her stomach.

"You are an angel, seriously I know I complain and call you a slave driver but I love you so much," Oliver mumbled into her apron.

Chloe laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. "When did you call me a slave driver?" She asked.

"Well…" Oliver stuttered.

"Eat," Chloe walked away back to the kitchen, letting him off the hook.

"Where's everyone else?" Oliver asked stuffing the bacon into his mouth which made him realize just how hungry he really was.

"Vic doesn't fly commercial anymore, not after last time," Bart reminded him and Oliver smiled thinking about the last time Victor flew. He'd fallen asleep and with his guard down his systems had somehow managed to interfere with the planes electrical system. The plane was struggling to stay in the air when Victor woke up and fixed everything in but it was too close to comfort for him. "He's taking the bus," Bart wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Dinah went with him to keep him company. And AC should be here any minute actually, he left before I did," Bart frowned.

"Oliver!" Lucy screamed across the house. "There's a half naked man standing on the back porch, he says he knows you."

"That would be him now," Bart smiled and Oliver walked into the living room. Lucy was standing at the back door glaring at AC who was shivering, shirtless and barefoot, standing in about six inches of snow as water froze to icicles on his skin.

"Do you know him?" Lucy asked looking him up and down.

"I do, it's ok," Oliver said. "Silver," he reminded her and she rolled her eyes but walked away without argument. Oliver smiled when he noticed she was wearing her sweater.

"Merry Christmas," AC said, his teeth chattering and Bart was at Oliver's side a second later holding out a robe which AC immediately bundled himself in.

"Did you swim here?" Oliver looked past him to the snow covered beach.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," AC said his teeth chattering. "It was 80 degrees in Florida this morning. Victor took my bags though."

"Come in, dry off, you should have some clothes left in the guest room from last time. I'll start a fire so you can warm up."

"Thanks," AC said walking down the hall, leaving wet footprints in his wake.

"You know when he's no longer in danger of frostbite he's gonna mop that up," Chloe called from the kitchen as Oliver arranged logs in the fire.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver had gotten a pretty good blaze going and was basking in the warmth, wondering if it was possibly to fall asleep standing up when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like, "Psssst," He looked around, confused when he didn't see anything and went back to admiring his fire. He stole a glance out the window and saw Carter, shivering on the porch as the snow fell down, trying to figure out how to work the smoker.

"Oliver," he definitely heard his name this time so looked around the room again but still found nothing. "Up here!" the voice whispered urgently. Oliver looked up and saw Courtney leaning over the second floor balcony waving frantically at him. "You need to see this," she said before turning around and walking away.

Oliver sighed and trudged up the stairs and into Courtney's room. She was biting her nails and staring at the television screen. "What?" Oliver asked and she turned the volume up.

"…_record snowfall for this time of year. The blizzard showed up overnight surprising everyone. All the East Coast airports are snowed in, all flights in and out cancelled indefinitely…" _

"Wasn't Chloe's dad flying in from DC?" Courtney asked Oliver.

"He was supposed to be," Oliver said rubbing his temples.

"What are we going to do?" Courtney asked. "We can't tell her. I don't know if you've noticed or not but, she's kind of gone insane."

"Yeah it hadn't escaped my attention." Oliver said. "I'll take care of it. Will you go help Carter out with the smoker?"

"Sure," Courtney nodded, grabbing her coat and scarf off the bed.

Oliver braced himself and walked back down the stairs into the kitchen where Chloe was shoving pancakes onto AC's plate while refilling his mug. "Hey, boss, look at this awesome sweater Chloe got for me," AC said when Oliver walked in the room. Oliver stopped, looked at AC's sweater and pained expression and then back down at his own sweater which was identical.

"Yeah, awesome," Oliver said tonelessly, grabbing Chloe's elbow and steering her into a chair. "Hey there's something I need to tell you. I just saw on the news that DC is snowed in, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland too. Your Dad's flight is cancelled indefinitely."

"I know, he called me," Chloe said.

"Oh, and you're ok with that?" Oliver asked her, surprised at how well she was taking this.

"Yeah, it's ok, I'm just gonna ask Clark to go get him when he gets here," Chloe stood up and walked into the kitchen. Bart and AC offered Oliver worried glances and he followed his wife.

"Chloe, we can't do that," Oliver said softly. "We can't send Clark to get your Dad, that would raise…far too many questions," Chloe opened her mouth to protest.

"You don't understand Oliver he has to be here," Chloe said desperately.

"No I don't understand. You were the one that insisted we keep him in the dark about the League, you were the one who didn't want to him to know anything that could put him in harm's way, that could make him a target. Letting him in on Superman's secret identity just so that he can be here for Christmas, is not the way to go."

"I know," Chloe deflated softly. "I just…I really wanted him to be here. I had something…" She shook her head. "It's fine, I'll see him after the New Year," she coughed for a second, composing herself and then smiled. "It's fine."

"I'm going to go call Clark," Oliver frowned. "He and Lois should have been here by now." He kissed Chloe's cheek softly.

"So when's dinner?" Bart asked, suddenly appearing at her side.

Chloe laughed and shook her head. "Dude, you just ate breakfast," AC pointed out.

"I'm ready for dinner," Bart whined. "I got no turkey on Thanksgiving, I always have turkey on Thanksgiving, I've been dreaming about turkey for a month now."

"Well the Turkeys still have a few hours to go," Chloe said, turning on each oven light and checking that both birds were still cooking. "But everything else is basically made. So as soon as the turkeys are done we can heat everything else up and then eat."

"Awesome," Bart smiled at her as Chloe walked out of the room. He waited until she'd completely turned the corner before he turned his attention on the two wall ovens in front of him.

"What are you doing?" AC asked from behind him.

"Nothing," Bart said reaching out and turning the temperature gauge up to 400.

"Don't touch anything," AC slapped his hand away and reset the gauge.

"Look, dude, the sooner this is done the sooner we eat, the sooner we eat, the sooner we can open presents and the sooner we open presents, the sooner you can take that sweater off," Bart pointed out.

"Good points all of those," AC admitted backing away. Bart smiled and turned the temperature up to 400, paused and then turned it up again to 475.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver cursed when Clark didn't answer his phone. He hung up and tried Lois who answered on the second ring. _"Lane, talk to me."_

"Lois, it's almost eleven o'clock where are you?" Oliver asked her.

"_Look, something came up," _Lois said to him then to he heard her talk to someone else. "_No, I need the numbers from last year, go down to the basement records room and ask for them. I don't care if it's Christmas Eve and no one's there find them yourself," _Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose and Lois focused her attention back on him. "_Interns huh," s_he scoffed.

"Are you at work?" Oliver asked incredulous.

"_You heard about the Sanitation workers strike right?"_ When Oliver didn't say anything she continued on. "_So there's a Sanitation workers strike_."

"Lois its Christmas Eve," Oliver said.

"_I know that, so do the Sanitation workers and the city. This thing is going to be over in an hour, two t_ops," Lois told him. "_I've got the sweet potato casserole in the oven at the farm. All we have to do is swing by pick it up and we'll be there before dinner."_

"You better," Oliver said, "Or that new computer you've been hinting at since July could very easily go back to the store," he warned hanging up the phone. When he turned around Chloe was standing right behind him and he jumped. "You've got to stop doing that. I just talked to Lois and she's running a little behind but she's on here way."

Chloe brushed him off, "Whatever. I was re-arranging the presents under the tree and I noticed we seemed to be missing something." Oliver shook his head, he knew better than to ask why she was rearranging the presents. "Did you forget what you were supposed to do yesterday?"

"Chloe I had two million things to do yesterday there's probably a very good chance I forgot more than just one thing," Oliver admitted. "So why don't you just help me out here and tell me what I forgot."

"The Kinect," Chloe reminded him desperately.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Oliver groaned throwing his head back. He'd been searching for that stupid Kinect for Bart for the past month now. Everywhere had been sold out and it was surprisingly the only thing he'd even asked for. Oliver had finally managed to stumble upon a small electronics' shop that was planning on getting a very small shipment of only three the day before. Initially the shop keeper had been hesitant to put one on hold but after a pretty hefty, non-refundable, deposit fee the store clerk had promised Oliver he'd put one aside and hold it but only for one day. And that day was yesterday.

"It's the only thing he asked for," Chloe said even though Oliver didn't need reminding. "And you know Bart, normally his list is like half a mile long."

"I know, I know," Oliver sighed. "Maybe he's still holding it—"

"He isn't I called," Chloe shook her head. "Explain to me again why you just can't take one from Queen Industries."

"Because," Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose as if he's had to explain this a thousand times. "Queen Industries doesn't make Kinect, Microsoft makes Kinect and I don't own Microsoft, Bill Gates does."

Chloe's eyes went wide. "So call _him_," she offered. "You guys are friends right? You run in the same rich person circles…didn't you give like over a million dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation this year alone?"

"I can't just call him, it's Christmas Eve and we're not that good a friends, our company's are sort of fierce competitors," Oliver reminded her, it had pained him enough that Bart had asked for the non Queen Industries made device, to have to call up Bill himself and beg for one, was definitely not on his Christmas to do list. "Don't worry about it. I'm on it," Oliver assured her reaching for his jacket and heading for the door. "I'll find one I promise." He called on his way out the door.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Five hours later Oliver trudged back through the door, his hands empty handed. "You didn't find one?" Courtney asked horrified as she took his jacket from him.

"Have you ever been shopping on Christmas Eve?" Oliver asked in a slight daze. "I've repelled down hundred story buildings, been in countless explosions, I've been shot, and stabbed and taken hostage more times than I can count but that has got to be the most horrific experience of my life," he admitted, lowering himself slowly into a chair. "People are crazed and it doesn't make any sense because there's nothing in the stores, _nothing_. But they're fighting over whatever's left and they don't even really want it, they just want _something_."

"Oliver, what are you going to do?" Courtney asked him nervously.

"I'm going to just have to go in there and tell her that I couldn't find one," he shrugged. "That Bart will have nothing under the tree and it's all my fault," he swallowed hard. "After I have a drink, a very strong drink." He got up and walked into the kitchen only to stop. Everyone was huddled around the kitchen island, whispering. "What's going on?" Oliver asked cautiously and Chloe lifted her head, a huge smile on her face.

"I did it," she whispered reverently and took a step back. Oliver moved closer to see what everyone was hudled around and found himself looking at a pie. But not just any pie. "Lucky number 25," Chloe told him. "Well lucky number 26 actually," she corrected herself. "I baked two. That way we could taste one and if it was all right we'd have a whole one for after dinner. Bart taste tested the first one and he said it was perfect so…" Chloe bit her lip and turned back to the pie.

Oliver smiled at her, the pie looked perfect, then again so had all the others. The top crust was perfectly golden brown, small grains of crystallized sugar sparkled in the light and goey apple pie goodness was bubbling up through the decorative holly leaf shaped holes Chloe had cut into the crust. "It looks perfect. Any chance I could get a taste of the first one?" Oliver asked hopefully and Chloe's face fell. He looked around the table at the annoyed glares of everyone else, all of them seemed to be directed at Bart who cut his eyes to the empty pie pan on the other side of the bar. "You ate the whole thing?" Oliver asked, not even sure why he was still surprised by something like that.

"What?" Bart asked annoyed. "Lunch was like almost an hour ago, I was hungry and it was really good."

"You'll just have to wait until after dinner," Chloe said, grabbing the pie from the bar top and passed it to Carter. "Would you go lock this in the safe please?" She said, sparing a pointed look at Bart as Carter removed the tempting pie from the room.

"Why does Carter know the combination to my safe?" Oliver asked suddenly and Chloe brightened, quickly changing the subject.

"How was your shopping trip?"

"It was…you know what we can talk about it later," Oliver said. "When's dinner?"

"As soon as Lois gets here with the sweet potatoes," Chloe said checking everything on the table.

"Lois isn't here yet?" Oliver looked at his watch and pulled out his phone as he walked into the living room where the guys were setting up the Wii. "Dinner's going to be ready in a minute," he informed them.

"Just one quick game of Mario Kart," Bart said turning the console on.

"_You've reached Lois Lane," _Oliver gritted his teeth as her voicemail picked up. "_If I didn't answer your call it probably means that I'm working on a story. You've got two minutes after the beep to convince me your more worth my time."_

"Lois," Oliver said carefully. "I don't care if the sanitation workers are on strike, I don't care if Metropolis is hit by a sudden outbreak of Ebola, I don't care if an alien spacecraft lands on the top of the Daily Planet promising to give us the secrets to their advanced technology and the cures to all the diseases in the world but they'll only give them to you. You will be here in two minutes you will smile and make nice and have a Merry freakin' Christmas." Oliver hung up violently.

"You're doing it," AC complained exasperated.

"I'm not doing anything, you're imagining things," Bart shook his head, all his concentration on the screen.

"You're cheating," AC accused.

"Please," Bart scoffed as he dropped a lightning bolt and AC's car spun out on the track. "Like you were ever going to win as Yoshi." Bart pressed down on a button on the control and Toad sped right past Yoshi for the win. "And that's 12 to 0. Are you ever going to win at this game?"

"That depends are you ever going to play it fair," AC snapped back. "Come on, one more time. I'll show you winning."

"No, you said one game, turn it off," Oliver said pacing back and forth, looking between the phone in his hand and the sliding door of the back porch, willing Lois to walk through that door. "Come on Lois," Oliver said checking the phone one more time, "Thirty seconds." The doors to the back porch flew open and a red blur sped into the room.

"We're here, we're here." Lois said as Clark set her down in the living room. She tried desperately to tame her hair from the force of Clark's special brand of transport. "The Sanitation strike isn't over yet but we're here, as promised," Lois said, offering a significant look to Oliver.

"That's great," Chloe said from the doorway, though her tone betrayed her words. "Where's the casserole?"

"Huh?" Lois looked up sheepishly from her phone where she was already checking her messages.

"The casserole," Chloe repeated a bit more slowly this time. "The sweet potato casserole."

"Oh!" Lois cringed and looked over at Clark. "We left it in the oven. Back at the farm."

Chloe shook her head in exasperation and turned to Clark who just stared back at her confused until he understood. "You know what? I can just run and go get it real quick," he offered before disappearing from view.

"Since we can't eat until he get's back I'm just gonna check on the progress of the strike," Lois stepped further into the living room texting something rapidly before dialing a number and putting the phone to her ear.

"Ok, real quick double or nothing," Bart offered, jumping over the back of the couch and turning the game back on.

"You're on," AC glared, hurrying around the couch and scooping up the controller.

"Guys I said no more," Oliver tried to remind them. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lois had managed to find the box with her computer in it, had unwrapped it and was in the process of turning it on. "Lois, seriously?" Oliver glared at her.

"Clark wouldn't let me bring mine and Perry is expecting this article in an hour," Lois said as the computer booted up. "I'll re-wrap it when I finish I promise."

Lucy walked back into the room and dropped a dirty black rag into his hand . "I'm done. I polished everything in that room twice," Lucy said. "Are you happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Oliver deadpanned.

"Great, you've taught me a very valuable lesson," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Can I please go to sleep now?"

"No, we're about to eat, go back into the dining room, help Courtney set the table, and sit down," Oliver said.

"Oh come on, if they have time to play a game I have time for a quick nap," Lucy whined.

"You're cheating!" AC said nudging part's shoulder with his own. "Again."

"I'm not cheating," Bart countered focusing on the screen.

Oliver glared at her, "They're not playing a game and you're not taking a nap."

"A shower at least, I smell like sliver polish and…jail," Lucy pleaded.

"You're kidding me! The city actually agreed to that?" Lois screamed into the phone. "I can't believe I'm stuck in freaking California."

"No, go into the dining room," Oliver turned her around and gave her a little shove. He turned back around and closed Lois laptop before grabbing the television remote off the edge of the couch and changing the channel in the middle of the game.

"Come on!" Bart turned around, "I was just about to win."

"No, you weren't because you were cheating, again," AC tossed the remote to the couch and smirked.

"You notice how you only accuse me of cheating when you're loosing," Bart smirked and took a step closer to AC.

"I'm only loosing because you're cheating," AC shoved Bart lightly.

"Hey, I need to borrow this for a second," Lois plucked the remote from Oliver's hand and started flipping through the channels. "I just need to find a news station." She cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear as she searched for something in particular.

"I told you I wasn't cheating." Bart growled and shoved AC harder, right into the Christmas tree which tipped over, falling into the wall, glass ornaments dropping off the branches and crashing to the ground.

"No, it's not on yet, there's some breaking news alert," Lois groaned into the phone glaring at the screen completely oblivious to the chaos around her.

"_Just minutes ago, a horrible fire decimated almost half a city block when faulty wiring set an apartment complex ablaze in down town Star City."_ The reporter said on the screen.

"Come on, get to the good stuff," Lois tapped her foot impatiently.

Oliver rushed over to help AC to his feet as Clark zoomed into the room adjusting his tie. "Hi, what did I miss?" he looked around confused.

"The sweet potato casserole. Again," Chloe said, looking him up and down, not seeing the dish in his hands.

"Oh crap," Clark winced. "I had it…I picked it up and then I must have left it…" he trailed off, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Left it where?" Chloe glared at him, studying him closer. She reached forward and brought a hand up to the side of his face, using her thumb to wipe a small black spot off the tip of his nose. "Is that soot?" Chloe asked just as Lois dropped her phone to the side and turned around.

"Is that my casserole dish?" she asked Clark pointing at the television where they were showing an image of one of the apartment interiors that was damaged in the fire and sure enough a pristine, bright red casserole dish was sitting on the edge of a completely charred table, the sweet potato's inside still slightly steaming.

"I don't care whose fault it was your both going to clean this mess up," Oliver snapped and Bart and AC.

"I asked for one thing," Chloe stared at Clark, "One simple thing. No work on Christmas."

"It was a fire," Clark defended himself. "How could I not stop…there were little children."

"That's what we have firemen for!" Chloe snapped back but before Clark could form his rebuttal an extremely loud boom echoed through the apartment, coming from the direction of the kitchen.

"What was that?" Oliver asked after a second of stunned silence.

Carter walked out from the kitchen, pulling chucks of meat out of his hair. "That would be one of the turkeys." He looked down at his Christmas sweater and resisted the urge to gag at the chucks of turkey stuck to it. "I went to get it out of the oven and it sort of exploded."

"How does a turkey explode?" Oliver stepped forward.

"Well it might have something to do with the fact that the oven temperature had been turned up to almost 500 degrees," Carter shrugged.

AC turned to Bart and shoved him hard, almost sending him sprawling into the newly righted Christmas tree. "I told you not to touch that."

"No, no way you're making this my fault too," Bart protested.

"I'm not _making_ it your fault, it _is_ your fault," AC insisted.

"That was my grandmother's casserole dish," Lois said.

"You know if you would have just remembered it in the first place, I wouldn't have had to go back for it," Clark said.

"I'm sorry if I had more important things to worry about than sweet potatoes," Lois snapped.

Chloe who had silently been taking everything in winced at that. "You know what, it's obvious you guys don't want to be here, you all have better things to do and I never should have forced you to come so Merry Christmas," she said reaching behind her and untying the string of the apron before lifting it over her head and letting it fall to the ground. "I'll see you next year."

"Chloe," Oliver stepped forward but she held out her hand and shook her head before turning and walking out of the room.

"What did you do?" Carter asked Oliver as Chloe disappeared around the corner.

"What did I do?" Oliver snapped. "I've been busting my ass for the past month trying to make sure everything was perfect for her and all you've been on my ass all week."

Carter and Oliver's argument just started AC and Bart up again and soon Lois and Clark joined in. Before long the voices began rising and rising until there wasn't any way that any of them could possibly hear each other until a shrill whistle pierced the air, shocking them all into silence. In unison they each turned their heads to the door way to see Dinah, her fingers falling from her lips as Victor carefully set their bags on the floor. "What the hell is going on here?" she asked, looking from Carter covered in turkey parts, to the knocked over tree and broken ornaments to the people standing around, all red in the face from yelling at each other before they all started yelling at her.

"AC said I was cheating which I was not…"

"Bart decided that we'd be able to eat faster if he turned the oven up, I tried to stop him…"

"Oliver made me polish all the silver in the Western Hemisphere and I have a cramp in my hand…"

"Carter's been riding me all week and I've had enough…"

"Lois can't even take one second away from work…"

"Oh like you're any better, Superman never takes a holiday…"

"Enough!" Dinah yelled again and they were all quite. "Chloe doesn't ask a lot from us. All year round she keeps us safe, she watches over us, not just on missions but in real life too and she's never asked for anything in return, except for this year. She wanted a nice family Christmas. One day. That's it just one day for everyone to come together and act like normal, civilized human beings and you can't even do that?"

"But I—" Oliver started to protest and Dinah turned the full force of her glare on him.

"I don't even want to hear it." Dinah said slowly making her way into the room. "You need to go find your wife and make this right." Oliver swallowed and nodded, heading out the way Chloe had left. "You two, turn off the game, pick up the tree and start acting your age. As for you two," she turned to Lois and Clark. "The both of you need to get over yourselves and realize that the world will keep on turning if you take a break every once and a while." Dinah said to Lucy with a frown. "I don't know what your problem is but just…get over it."

Carter just crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at the others. "Wipe that smirk off your face Carter Hall. I know it's hard for you to resist messing with Oliver, it's hard for all of us to resist messing with Oliver but it's Christmas," Dinah stopped beside him and smacked the older man in the back of his head. "So stop being an ass and embrace the spirit of the season. You can start by helping to clean this mess up."

Carter seemed frozen for a second and then he smiled. "Yes ma'am," he nodded his head at her and walked over to the tree, helping AC and Bart set it back to rights.

"Anything you want to add?" Dinah asked Victor who was still standing in the doorway.

"Nope, I think you pretty much covered it," Victor smiled.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"What are you doing up here? It's freezing," Oliver said from the doorway to the attic. Chloe was sitting perched on one of the beams, her arms wrapped around herself, silent tears running down her face. He ducked back out into the hallway for a second and returned holding a large quilt. He wrapped it around Chloe's shoulder and lowered himself to the beam next to her, rubbing her shoulders to warm her up.

Chloe took in a deep breath and brought her hands up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "This was stupid," she whispered.

"What?" Oliver asked her confused.

"This whole thing," Chloe grabbed the edges of the quilt and pulled it tighter around her. "Thinking I could pull this off, thinking I could get everyone here and we could have a big family Christmas. Trying for the perfect holiday, it was stupid."

"It wasn't stupid," Oliver said. "It was just…maybe a bit unrealistic." He tilted his head slightly. "You have met us before right? I mean when has anything we've ever planned gone right?" Chloe let out a bark of laughter and leaned her head against his shoulder and he held her close. "Why was this so important to you anyway? You've never made such a big deal about Christmas before."

"What was Christmas like for you growing up?" Chloe asked him.

"My parents would have this huge party Christmas Eve, I'm pretty sure all of Star City came. They had the best food and the let me stay up really late and I would play the piano to impress the guests," Oliver smiled.

"I didn't know you could play," Chloe smiled up at him softly.

"I can't," Oliver admitted. "I can play one song, Joy to the World. And I played it every year."

"Everyone can play Joy to the World," Chloe rolled her eyes. "It's just going down the scale."

"I mean the house was full of people but it wasn't family or anything," he said ignoring her. "Don't get me wrong it was great, but then Christmas morning it was just me and my mom and dad. I used to ask for a little brother all the time. My friends at school used to talk about how their whole family visited for the holidays and how annoying it was but it sounded like fun to me, other kids to play with, a house full of noise."

They were both silent for a minute before Chloe spoke.

"When I was little, we used to go to Lois' for Christmas every year and it was big and loud and everyone was there, Aunts and Uncles and cousins and neighbors and there was food and games and presents. All the kids would make this big fort in the basement with couch cushions and pillows and blankets and Uncle Sam told us stories about Santa Claus until we fell asleep. Then my dad would dress up and stomp around upstairs which would always wake Lois and then she would wake me and drag me up the steps and we would watch through the stair rail as he laid out all the presents and every year he would turn around, look at us and wink and it was so great." Oliver smiled down at her.

"Then my mom left and my dad tried to keep it up that first year, but it wasn't the same, it just felt different and then Lois' mom died and the General stopped doing Christmas altogether. From then on out it was just the two of us and I love my dad I do and he did his best with me, I mean I could be difficult. I just still couldn't help but feel that I was missing out on something you know."

"I know that Vic never had a big family thing and for AC it was just him and his Dad. Bart has his Uncle but it's not the same you know. I just, I don't want our kids to feel like they ever missed out on anything you know, I really wanted to make sure they had the big family Christmas. This was like a dry run I guess and I couldn't pull it off."

"I want our kids to have that too," Oliver said. "And they will but don't worry we've got a lot of time to practice."

Chloe lifted her head up at him and bit her lip. "Except we don't. We've got a year, just this year, because next year…" she looked down at her stomach and laid a hand on it softly.

"We've got…you mean next year we're gonna have a…you're pregnant?" Oliver asked and Chloe nodded. "With a baby?"

"God I hope so," Chloe laughed at the shocked expression on Oliver's face.

"We're going to have a baby?" Oliver stood up, lifting Chloe to her feet and spinning her around wildly before stopping almost instantly and setting her down. "Sorry that's probably not good for the baby. You should sit. Sit," he pushed her back down onto the beam. "How long have you known?"

"Since a week before Thanksgiving," Chloe admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Chloe bit her lip. "I was going to tell you at Thanksgiving and then all hell broke loose and I thought to myself, _'what type of people can't even have a simple Thanksgiving dinner without being attacked?'_. I started to kind of freak out, that maybe we weren't ready for this, that with the lives that we lead, if we can't even have a simple holiday dinner how can we even hope to raise a child and I guess I sort of became obsessed. I started equating having a perfect Christmas with being a good parent and it…spiraled out of control."

"You could say that again," Oliver mumbled under his breath and Chloe glared at him. "There is a stuffed penguin in Santa hat on the bathroom counter that sings and dances whenever you walk past it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to pee when there's a tiny penguin staring at you and singing "Holly Jolly Christmas"? It's unnerving to say the least." Oliver pulled her closer and kissed the top her head.

"I know, I'm sorry. Like I said it was stupid."

"No, it wasn't, it really wasn't." Oliver kissed the top of her head and then pulled away. "I mean I never got to have that big family Christmas like you but I have watched all the movies and from what I can tell…that down there has been a pretty typical Christmas. I mean think about it, we've had delayed flights, people fighting left and right, present mishaps, one very impressive cooking accident and two arrests."

Chloe paused and looked at him, "Two arrests?" she asked, her voice rising a bit. "Who was…Lucy and Courtney, that's where you were this morning, bailing them out of jail, I can't believe her."

"The point is, if you just ignore that, it's actually the first time we've all been together in a while where there wasn't you know a top secret mission or something." Oliver said. "It's been kind of nice, even having Carter here—but don't ever let him know I said that. Look, Dinah and Victor just got here and I'm pretty sure she put the fear of God in everyone. We've still got one good turkey and the ham if Carter didn't manage to mess that up, I say we eat some dinner," he stood up and pulled Chloe to her feet. "Cause seriously if we wait much longer, Bart's liable to start eating his own arm, or you know, break into my safe for the pie."

"Well we can't have that," Chloe said following Oliver down the steps.

When she got into the living room she stopped and smiled. They'd fixed the tree and swept up the broken ornaments. She could see everyone in the other room, seated around the dining room table, waiting for her to eat. Dinah was telling Lucy a story that was probably wholly inappropriate, Lois and AC were catching up as Carter and Courtney argued over something, Courtney gesticulating wildly, pointing at Lucy to make her point. Chloe guessed Carter had found out about the being arrested thing. All of them were taking turns slapping Bart's hand away from whatever dish he was trying to sneak a bite of at any given time and Oliver sat at the head of the table, smiling indulgently at all of them.

It did look like the perfect Christmas that she'd been striving for and despite all her planning and schedules and lists and the massive amount of pies that she baked, it all seemed to just fall into place on its own.

She made her way further into the room and stopped when she heard the television. She grabbed the remote with every intention of switching it off and turning her Christmas music back on when the story on the screen caught her attention. They were still talking about the fire from earlier but Chloe couldn't make herself turn it off. She was transfixed by the image on the screen, the smoking rubble of the apartment building, the families, men, woman and children, all huddled together in the cold, in the snow, soot on their faces, the scratchy thin blankets from the Fire Department clutched around their shoulders.

"_The local church has offered up their gymnasium as a temporary shelter for a few nights but they are asking for donations."_ The reporter on the scene said and Chloe recognized the church, she'd worked with the Priest before on some of Oliver's local charity things. _"Blankets and clothing and coats even toiletries, they really need the bare necessities, they've lost everything. They'll also be taking donations of food and money, anything would be appreciated…"_

Chloe turned around and took in her own surroundings, the roaring fire in the fireplace, the presents piled up under the tree, the table covered in food and she dropped the remote to the couch. "Oh thank God." Bart said with an exaggerated sigh. "Chloe's here, we can eat. Finally." He sat down in his seat and picked up his fork and knife.

"Pack it up." Chloe said walking over to the table.

"What?" Oliver sat up straighter.

"Pack it up."

"Pack what up?" Clark asked confused.

"Everything, all of it." She looked around.

"All of it?" Bart asked and she nodded.

"The lights and the tinsel and the garland and the tree," she said.

"And the food?" Bart asked hesitantly. "What about the food?"

"The food too. Pack it all up." Chloe nodded already grabbing Tupperware containers from the cabinet.

"You're taking Christmas away?" Bart whispered. "But it was an accident, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—_we_ didn't mean-"

"I'm not taking away Christmas away." Chloe assured him with a soft smile. "Bart, please just do as I say."

"Ok." He nodded and dropped the fork and the knife to the table.

Chloe stepped out of the car, the platter with the turkey on it clutched tightly in her hands as she headed to the gym doors of the church. It was opened before she could get to it and she smiled as the priest walked out confused but pleased. "Ms. Queen?" Father O'Conner squinted in the darkness at her. "Can I help you?"

"I saw on the news about the fire," Chloe said. "I figured you could use a few things." She stepped out of the way just as Victor and AC came past her carrying the large Christmas tree that used to be in her living room and Father O'Conner raised his eyebrows. "It's Christmas Eve, you've got have a tree and I just happened to have a spare."

Courtney, Lucy, Dinah and Lois followed behind them carrying the platters full of side dishes. "Seriously," Dinah said walking behind Lois, staring at the bag slung over her shoulder. "You brought the computer?"

"Baby steps ok, baby steps," Lois called back.

Oliver and Carter brought up the rear holding boxes of Christmas ornaments and other decorations. "Father O'Conner," Oliver tilted his head with a smile.

"Mr. Queen." The priest smiled at him.

"Bart," Chloe called back at the car and the back door opened slowly as Bart got out, somehow even slower. "Bart come on."

"But it was perfect," he whispered sadly staring down at the pie in his hands.

"Bart," Chloe said more sternly and he nodded sadly, carrying the pie reverently in front of him as he made his way into the gym.

"Father," Bart nodded sadly at the priest.

"He'll be alright, I'll make him another one tomorrow," Chloe assured Father O'Conner. "Now where can I set this? It's kind of heavy."

"Oh follow me please," Father O'Conner ushered her inside.

Dinah, Courtney and Lucy strung the lights up on the tree as AC and Bart tossed on the ornaments. It wasn't nearly as precise as Chloe would have decorated it but it was perfect non the less. Clark and Carter went around the room draping garland on the windows as Lois oversaw the whole operation. The food was gone in seconds, the pie gone even faster and then Victor herded all the kids to the corner where he read them the Night Before Christmas while Oliver talked to the parents.

"It was faulty wiring?" Oliver asked them.

"We'd been telling the landlord for month but he didn't care," Emily said. "And now…" she trailed off and her husband wrapped an arm over her shoulders and held her tight.

"Father O'Conner is being kind enough to let us stay here for now but school starts up again in a week," Emily's husband Adam pointed out. "Some of us have family that we can go to but most of us aren't sure where we're going to go."

"You don't have to worry about that," Oliver shook his head. "I own a few Apartment buildings down town and there are always empty units, fully furnished. Trust me, you don't have to worry about where you're going to go."

"No offence Mr. Queen," another man name Brian spoke up. "But I know what kind of buildings you own and there is no way that any of us could afford to live in a place like that."

"You'll pay me whatever you were paying your old landlord and you can stay for as long as you like, forever if you need to," Oliver said.

"We couldn't possibly—" Emily tried to protest.

"He's really not going to take no for an answer," Chloe said passing by and dropping a kiss on Oliver's temple as she gathered up the platters to take to the back and rinse off.

"I'll come by tomorrow and we'll finalize the details," Oliver told them.

"No tomorrow is Christmas, you should spend it with your family. We can wait a few days," Adam shook his head.

"Tomorrow is Christmas and you should spend it in a home," Oliver countered and grabbed a handful of plates and headed for the back before they could protest further.

Oliver slipped the dishes in the sink and turned to Chloe who was watching Victor read with a soft smile on her face. "You did a good thing here you know?"

"I wish we could have done more." Chloe said, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "I wish we could have given them more, we have so much and they had so little to begin with and now they have even less. I just wish we could have done more."

Oliver's phone beeped signaling a new message and he checked it with a smile. "The nights not over yet Sidekick," he winked at her and walked back into the main room. Most of the children were sitting around Victor, enraptured by the story but one little girl, Sarah, was sitting off to the side, tears sliding down her face. Oliver walked over to her. "What's wrong?" he crouched down in front of her. "Why are you crying?"

"It's Christmas Eve," she explained. "And we're not at home, how is Santa going to find us?"

"Come here," Oliver sat down and Sarah climbed up in his lap. "Santa's magic right? I mean he knows when you've been bad and good and when you're sleeping and when you're awake right?" he asked and Sarah nodded. "If he knows all those things what makes you think he won't know that you moved a few blocks down the street?"

"I guess," Sarah sniffled.

"You're still not convinced?" Oliver asked and pulled out his phone. "You want me to call him? Make sure he knows where you are?"

"You have Santa's number?" Sarah asks, her eyes wide.

"Of course I have Santa's number," Oliver scoffs. "Me and Santa go way back you know, he's a very good friend of mine," Oliver dialed a number on his phone and put it up to his ear. "It's ringing," he told Sarah. By now the other kids had made their way over. "Hey Nick," Oliver covered the phone's speaker. "That's what I call him," he winked at Sarah. "Yeah, no I know your busy, it is Christmas Eve after all. It's just, a friend of mine's house burned down earlier, Sarah-" Oliver stopped and looked over at Sarah. "Yes, Sarah Martin, how did you know her name?" Sarah's eyes got even wider. "You're Santa, of course you know her name, how silly of me. But look, she just wanted to make sure you knew that she was not at her old address," Oliver paused. "Right, yes, just down the street. St. Catherine's church," Sarah smiled as Oliver gave her the thumbs up. "What do you mean you're already here?" he asked turning to the kids. "Do you guys hear something?"

Chloe frowned, unsure where Oliver was going with this when she heard it; sleigh bells. Sarah ran to the window and gasped. "It's Santa!" she screamed with joy and all the other kids ran over to the windows.

"It is!" another boy called out, turning back to his parents. "It's Santa he's here."

Chloe helped Oliver stand up as he slid his phone back in his pocket. "What did you do?"

"I made some calls." Oliver shrugged.

"To who?" Chloe shook her head in astonishment. "Who could you call on Christmas Eve."

"Bill Gates," Oliver said with a shrug and Chloe's eyes went wide. "I'm just kidding, I called Santa."

"Santa?" Chloe asked. "Really?"

"He owes me a few favors," Oliver said as the door opened and a man in a deep red velvet Santa suit walked in the room with a deep, hearty "Ho, Ho, Ho!" The kids swarmed around him screaming and laughing and he ate it all up.

"You really know Santa then?" Father O'Conner walked up to them.

"That's actually Michael Peterson." Oliver admitted.

"Doesn't he own the Star City Gazette?" Chloe asked.

"Among other business, one of which happens to be a local toy store chain. I called him, told him what happened and he was more than eager to help me out," Oliver shrugged. "He called a few other business owners around town, they were all more than willing to pitch in. There'll should be a few trucks coming around back with clothes and blankets, towels and toiletries and pretty much everything you would need if you'd just lost everything you owned."

"You're a good man Oliver Queen," Father O'Conner clapped him on the back.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Hey kid, what are you doing over here, don't you want get a present from Santa?" Lois asked an older boy who was leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Please, I'm not a kid. I'm fifteen and I don't believe in Santa," he scoffed. "Besides, it's all baby toys," he pushed himself off the wall and reached beside him for a set of crutches.

"Oh god, if you tell me your name is Tim I swear-" Lois said.

"Don't worry Scrooge, my names Nathan," the kid smiled, catching onto the Christmas Carol reference. "And I busted my knee trying out this awesome trick on my bike…which I don't have anymore because it was lost in the fire. I doubt Santa has one of those in his bag," he started to walk away Lois bit her lip, annoyed with herself but she couldn't stop from calling out his name.

"Nathan, wait," Lois reached at strap around her shoulder and lifted it over her head. "It's not a bike but it's brand new, never been used. Terabyte hard drive, top of the line operating system, it can pretty much do whatever you want it to do."

"Seriously?" Nathan looked from the bag to Lois and then back again, narrowing his eyes at her in that way that only teenagers can pull off. "If it's so awesome why are you giving it to me?"

"Cause it's Christmas or whatever, just take the damn bag before I change my mind," Lois growled and Nathan grabbed the bag from her with a smile.

"Thanks," he said.

"Whatever," Lois rolled her eyes and turned around to see Dinah smirking at her. "Oh God, get over yourself Lance," Lois said staring at the tree. "And you can't just bunch the balls together like that you have to spread them out."

**December 25****th****, Christmas Day**

"I'm starving," Bart said around 1 a.m. when they finally got back to the house. "I can't believe they ate all the food."

"Nothing's open either." AC grumbled, his own stomach empty. "It's Christmas."

"That's not true," Bart narrowed his eyes. "Somewhere in the world right now, something's open," he declared.

"If you want to go look—" Oliver held out his credit card and a second later it and Bart were gone. "I'd be more than happy to pay," he mumbled into thin air.

Five minutes later Bart was back laden down with bags full of Chinese takeout. "It's after five in Melbourne," he said by way of explanation and walked into the dining room to set the bags down.

"Wait," Lucy called out, following him into the room.

"What are you doing?" Bart asked staring at Lucy dubiously as she dumped the lo mein noodles into a large shining silver bowl.

"I spent the past two days polishing all this stuff," Lucy told him, tossing the empty cartoon into the trash can. "And we're gonna use them damn it," she said mater of factly as she started artfully arranging the egg rolls on a silver platter.

"Ok then," Bart smiled at her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"I knew I could count on you. You're the best you know," Chloe said, sliding up next to Oliver and kissing his cheek.

"I am?" Oliver asked confused but pretty pleased with himself.

"Where did you find one?" Chloe asked.

"Find one what?" Oliver was even more confused now.

"A Kinect silly, I saw the box under the tree, and the wrapping is really nice did you do it yourself?" Chloe asked.

"I didn't find…what are you talking about?" Oliver shook his head as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the living room. She pointed at a perfectly wrapped present, the tag declaring that it was for Bart, about the exact shape and size a Kinect would be. "Chloe, I didn't find one, I didn't get this," Oliver told her seriously.

"Oh, right," Chloe winked at him. "So it's from Santa? Nice touch by the way but I'm pretty sure Bart stopped believing a long time ago."

Oliver looked closer at the tag and sure enough it claimed to be from the big man himself. "Chloe, seriously, I didn't do this. I searched everywhere, I couldn't find one."

"Ok, if that's your story," Chloe laughed and shook her head. "You _are_ a good man Oliver Queen."

He was about to protest again when the doorbell rang and he and Chloe looked at each other in confusion. "Who in the world would be here at one in the morning? On Christmas?" Chloe asked making her way to the door. When she opened it she was in shock for a few seconds, staring at the man in front of her before jumping forward and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Daddy!" she shouted, clutching onto him.

"Merry Christmas to you too baby." Gabe said, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

"Wow, what a greeting," an amused voice said from beside Gabe and Chloe pulled away with a smile. "Does everyone get one of those?"

"Mrs. Kent!" she hugged the other woman just as tight, her smile stretching her cheeks almost painfully. "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"Well, when I got snowed in I tried to find a hotel room for the night but every placed was booked and then I got a call from Martha," Gabe explained.

"I was in the city for work and Clark called and told me what happened. My apartment's pretty small and all I could offer was a couch but I figured it was better than the hard airport chairs," Martha smiled. "So I insisted that he come stay with me and we were just settling in to watch White Christmas when Oliver's pilot showed up at my door."

"He said that he was there to take us to Star City and he wasn't taking no for an answer. He said that you had something important to tell us and he was under strict orders to get us here no matter what. You should have heard the way the tower was yelling at him when he took off," Gabe winced. "I'm pretty sure he broke a few laws, you should probably give him a raise." Gabe patted Oliver's back.

"I'll get right on that," Oliver said. "Right after I pay the massive fines I'm sure I'll get slapped with."

"So what was so important that you had to go up against the FAA?" Gabe asked.

"Why don't I tell everyone at the same time," Chloe grabbed her dad's arm and Gabe looked over his shoulder.

"I'll get your bags, you two go on into the dining room, we've got Chinese food," Oliver said, reaching down for Gabe's bags and Martha raised her eyebrows. "It's a long story, we'll tell it all later."

Oliver heard Clark's surprised exclamation of, "Mom!" and contemplated how he was going to get all the bags in one trip when Carter was suddenly at his side, grabbing Gabe's for him.

"I didn't tell my pilot to go to DC and pick up Martha and Gabe," Oliver said as they brought the bags into the house. "And I certainly did not tell him to get them here using any means necessary, even if that mean defying the FAA."

"Yeah well you should have," Carter clapped him on the back. "And you're welcome. Her dad should be here, it's Christmas."

"You know about Chloe?" Oliver asked him and Carter nodded. "This whole time."

"Clark found out at Thanksgiving, apparently two heartbeats are hard to miss. For whatever reason she wasn't ready to tell you yet so she made him swear not to. But he wanted to make sure there was someone looking out for her, someone who knew and since he couldn't be here all the time, he told me."

Oliver thought back on all the times this past week Carter had hit him and said, _"She's your wife, do what she says"_ and realized now the whole time he'd meant, _"She's pregnant, do what she says"_. "Why didn't you take the credit?" Oliver asked, nodding to Gabe who was staring at Chloe in shock, a huge smile pulling up the corners of his mouth as he grabbed her and spun her around just like Oliver had. "I mean the past week you've jumped at the chance to outdo me."

"You can have this one," Carter shrugged. "Consider it my Christmas present to you."

"You don't do presents," Oliver said.

"Of course I do presents," Carter scoffed. "I'm a regular Santa Claus."

"You got the Kinect," Oliver said and Carter turned to walk away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He shrugged.

Oliver smiled as Carter walked up to Chloe and offered his own delayed congratulations. "Wait, I still get an actual present right?" Oliver called after him. "Carter, seriously that's not funny."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When the food was all eaten and the presents all unwrapped, (Bart did get his Kinect and Lois got a piece of paper with a hastily scribbled _I owe you 1 laptop_ on it), they all gathered around the TV and started arguing about which was a better Christmas movie to watch.

"Hey!" Bart said when the television turned on, it was still on the news. "They're talking about us."

"_They're calling it the Miracle on 134__th__ Street. After a fire devastated an entire city block earlier this afternoon in downtown Star City many families thought they might not get a Christmas this year but little did they know their story had caught the attention of one of Star City's own. _

_He's more prone to wearing green than red and no one would ever accuse him of having a belly that jiggled like a bowl full of jelly but from now on, to a few select Star City residence he'll forever be thought of a Santa. Oliver Queen has always had a reputation for being extremely generous to charities all around the city but today he, along with his very own Mrs. Clause, wife Chloe Queen, went above and beyond the call of duty. _

_They started by bringing a Christmas dinner spread that would make anyone jealous and based on eye witness accounts of personally engraved silver platters, it more than likely came straight from his very own holiday table. He also made a few calls and spurred other local business owners into action who, before the night was over, would deliver truck loads of clothing and essentials to the seven families who suddenly found themselves homeless—"_

The television channel changed quickly and Bart turned around to find Oliver holding the remote. "I really didn't want the press brought into this."

"You saved Christmas Oliver, you thought no one would report on it?" Lois asked him cheekily.

"I didn't save Christmas," Oliver rolled his eyes. "And you didn't tip them off did you?"

"No." Lois said grumpily. "Like I'd give away a story?"

"Right, what was I thinking." Oliver shook his head. Bart and AC went back to arguing over what movie to watch and Oliver looked around for Chloe. He found her observing it all from the kitchen doorway, her eyes slightly watery.

Oliver walked over and frowned at her, "What's wrong?" he asked worried.

"Nothing, I just…" she leaned forward and kissed him soft and sweet and full of all the apologies and worries that she couldn't seem to voice at the moment for her behavior the past few days. "Thank you," she whispered against her lip as the tears fell from her eyes. "This has been the best Christmas ever."

Oliver smiled and wiped her tears away, kissing her lips softly two more times and then her forehead. "That's what I'm here for Sidekick." Oliver frowned as AC and Bart got into yet another argument. "Not again."

"They're fighting over who gets to be Godfather now," Chloe said, resting on Oliver's shoulder. "They've saved my life more times than I can count and there's no one else I'd rather have your back out in the field but do they honestly think that I would trust any of them with the spiritual and emotional well being of my child," Chloe joked.

"Carter," Oliver said suddenly and Chloe lifted her head to look up at him in confusion. "Carter's going to be the Godfather."

"Really?"

"You have a problem with that?" Oliver asked.

"No, I just…never thought you'd…are you sure?" Chloe asked him.

"Yeah, he's earned it," Oliver said. "Just don't let him know it was my idea ok?"

"Oh!" Martha jumped up suddenly and ran into the guest room, emerging with two large Tupperware containers. "I almost forgot. I need to put these in the oven, just to heat them up a bit."

"What are they?" Chloe asked confused.

"Pies of course," Martha smiled. "It's Christmas right? There's got to be pie."

"You travel with pie?" Oliver asked her.

"No," Martha laughed. "Gabe and I were stuck in the house and I didn't have anything for a traditional Christmas dinner but I had everything to make a pie so I baked these and then when the pilot showed up, well I figured I could just bring them with me," Martha shrugged and made her way into the kitchen.

Chloe put a hand on her stomach and looked at Oliver, her eyes starting to water again. "We're gonna be ok aren't we?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." Oliver said. "We're not going to do this alone. Our little girl's gonna be fine."

"How do you know it's a she?" Chloe asked.

"Because, in case you didn't know, before I met you, oh love of my life, I had a reputation for being a bit of a playboy and Karma's a bitch." Oliver smirked and Chloe laughed.

"We've got Dinah to make sure she's independent, Clark for the heavy lifting, AC can teach her how to swim, Victor can teach her how to hack, Lois is going to make it a point to be the best Aunt in the history of ever because she has to be the best at everything. Courtney will babysit whenever we ask and Bart will defiantly come in handy for those late night pregnancy cravings, Lucy…well actually we're probably going to keep the baby away from Lucy." Chloe laughed as Oliver dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

Chloe watched everyone in the living room, fought even as they laughed, as Martha slid the pie pans into the oven and shooed Bart and Clark away with the dish towel. "And as long as Martha's around, there will be pie." Chloe said in relief.


End file.
